How One Man’s Treasure Became a Catbird Collection
The story of Vito Giallo’s gems.
This letter is free in partnership with Catbird.
In the summer of 1969, Vito Giallo, the owner of an antiques store on the Upper West Side, got a call from a friend about a body: An old-time gemstone dealer had been found dead in his apartment on 75th Street and Lexington Avenue. He had no relatives, no heirs, and no will, so the building’s superintendent, Stanley, was left with his belongings. Could Vito come over and help appraise them?
“There didn’t seem to be anything of value until I opened an old trunk dating from the 1800s,” Vito, who died in 2024, wrote in his memoir. What he found made him gasp: Inside were thousands of gemstones, including rubies, tourmalines, amethysts, opals, moonstones, garnets, rock crystals, and pearls, each tucked away in a small jeweler’s envelope.
Vito had unearthed many treasures throughout his career—a Han dynasty ceramic vessel plucked from a bargain barrel, a $12 watercolor that turned out to be by the American painter Charles Demuth—but this was any collector’s dream bounty. “I was thrilled to rescue the gems,” Vito said. “What a tragedy it would have been for this man’s life’s work to be disposed of.”
Over the years, Vito sold some of the stones to loyal customers, including his former boss, Andy Warhol, who visited Vito’s store on Madison Avenue every day. He also made some pieces with his life partner, Ebby Weaver, whom he met at art school. (And with whom he is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery.) Vito and Stanley split the profits. After two years, Stanley was able to buy a house in the country. There were so many gemstones, though, that Vito didn’t know what else to do with them. Most remained in a storage unit, untouched, for five decades. Warhol died before he was able to use the 40 or so gems he had purchased; they were later sold at his Sotheby’s estate sale for approximately $10,000.
During the pandemic, Vito showed some of the stones to his great-grandniece by marriage, Tara Marrale, who lived upstairs and was helping him organize his vast collection, which also included a narwhal tusk, a meteorite, and works by Warhol and Picasso. She suggested they reach out to Catbird, a jewelry brand based in Brooklyn, where they all lived. Maybe they could put the stones to good use.
“Within 14 minutes of Tara’s email being forwarded to me, [Catbird’s founder], Rony [Vardi], and I were like, yes,” Catbird’s creative director, Leigh Plessner, told me one afternoon at the brand’s headquarters in the Brooklyn Navy Yard this summer. I’d heard the story of Vito’s gems and their discovery before, but it was thrilling to hear Tara and Leigh tell it again. When Leigh and Rony first visited Vito’s apartment with the Catbird team in 2021, they couldn’t believe their luck, either. In 2022, they released their first Catbird x Vito’s Gems collection and have since released numerous other limited-edition “chapters” with Vito’s stones.
“Vito really thought it was magic—the creation of these pieces, how they came alive, and that they had a new story,” Tara said. The first chapter featured an antique cameo carved with a small village scene, which Catbird added a movable shooting star to and set in the center of a peridot rivière necklace. It was purchased as a gift for a wife by her husband—the first piece of jewelry he’d bought her in two or three decades. “Our hearts exploded,” Leigh said. “Vito couldn’t believe it!”
Although Vito was in his early nineties when he and Catbird started working together (June 10 would have been his 95th birthday), he remained involved until the very end, crafting sculptures for photo shoots and closely monitoring sales. A businessman at heart, he also cared deeply about the pieces themselves, their stories, and the stories of their past and future owners. Personally, I loved hearing Vito’s own story so much, I asked Tara if she ever needed an intern…
On Friday, the brand will launch its twelfth chapter using Vito’s stones. Titled “You Have to Be Very Curious,” it was inspired by Vito’s mantra as a collector, and includes a footed tourmaline vase brimming with carved blossoms, lavender jade from the trunk, antique aquamarines, and the first diamond center stone.
Each piece has its own story to tell. The tourmaline Cherry Blossom Vase Pendant, for example, was inspired by Ludwig Bemelmans, an artist and writer who painted the murals under which Vito would have a nightly martini after closing his shop at 966 Madison Avenue—just across the street from the Bemelmans Bar in the Carlyle Hotel. Vito’s regular customers, including the American painter Mark Rothko, who bought rugs from him, and the Mexican film star María Félix, inspired some of the new Catbird pieces as well.
Although there are plenty of stones left to play with, the supply is slowly dwindling. “The last time I was here, I got emotional because we were talking about the rest of the stones that we have,” Tara said. “Once they're gone, they're gone, and I hope people understand their value.” Thankfully, the Catbird collaboration gives them a new life. “They all have new homes, new memories, and new chapters that will maybe last another 100 years.”
In addition to the limited-edition pieces, Catbird has also designed a handful of charms inspired by Vito’s world, like his favorite chair, from which he used to cheerfully greet guests, and the Thick & Chunky salsa jar he insisted on using as a flower vase. “Vito’s petals will continue to unfold, and we will continue to tell the story in new ways,” Leigh said.
“Vito never really liked the idea of death, so this endless creation with the stones feels very him,” Tara said. “He just wanted to keep going. And his stuff—it’s all still here.”
Preview the new Catbird x Vito’s Gems collection here now and shop it on Friday, July 11.
In honor of Catbird’s continued partnership with Vito Giallo, the Catbird Giving Fund is proud to have donated $40,000 to SAGE, a national advocacy and services organization, in their mission to look out for LGBTQ+ elders while ensuring a fulfilling future for all LGBTQ+ people.